PLATE XXI
A HOUSE OF THE and CENT. B.C. AT POMPEII

i, 2. VIEW OF THE RUINS AND RESTORATION OF
THE FIRST RECEPTION-ROOM (ATRIUM) OF THE SO-
CALLED HOUSE OF THE FAUNUS (a bronze statuette of
this god was found in the house, now at Naples in the Museum)
AT POMPEII. The house consisted of an atrium (reception-
room), a tablinum (a sitting-room behind the atrium), and two
large colonnaded courts or gardens (peristyles). All these

. 0 2 4 6 A 10 12 14 16 1880 Q

TEXT-FIG. 3. PLAN OF THE HOUSE OF THE FAUNUS

parts were surrounded by various living- and reception-rooms,
bedrooms, dining-rooms, sitting-rooms, &c. The house was
one of the largest and most beautiful private buildings of
Pompeii. The owners had kept its interior decoration as it
had been first created in the 2nd cent. B. c., the time when
Hellenized Samnites, most of them rich landowners, were the
residents of the city. Beautiful mosaics (now at Naples, see
next plate) adorned the floors. The glory of the house was the
excellent mosaic which represents the decisive battle between
Alexander the Great and Darius, a Greek original of the
3rd cent. B. c. It was kept in a reception-room (exedra) of
the first peristyle (now in the Museum of Naples). The walls
are painted in the so-called ist Pompeian style ; the decoration
uses stucco to imitate marble plaques of various colours.